new shoes.

Laney is walking, and has been since a couple days after her first birthday. She's really good at it and really fast (poor mommy :)). Since she started she pretty much hasn't stopped. If you drive down our street around 5pm each night we're out there walking up and down and up and down the street. I think she would walk miles and miles if we let her. She definitely inherited her father's energy.



Since she's walking I thought it was time for her to get some shoes (contrary to the "Montgomery way"). Side note-- I'm not sure if you're all aware of this, but Montgomery kids don't wear shoes. I honestly don't think I wore shoes until I was in the 8th grade. Even in December--bare feet. If my mom had it her way, Laney wouldn't own a pair of shoes until she turned 13. Ok, let's get back on track now. I bought her some shoes. She loves them. I think she has a shoe fetish, however it has taken her a while to learn to walk in them. She's getting better, but they slow her down (fine by me!).



I'm sure it won't take long before she learns to run in them. She's only had a few face plants into the cement. Some tears and a bloody lip later, she jumps right back up and keeps on-- a resilient little lamb, she is.



So, happy new shoes, Laney! Please slow down! love--mommy

blame it on the plane

Get it?! Like the milli-vanilli song only I switched rain for plane? :)

Ok...so we're back from Ohio. In fact, we've been back for almost a week now. I'm gonna be honest here, not my most favorite trip to the O-H. We got there at 2am Friday night, err, Saturday morning. Saturday was a really fun day! If I felt like I did on Saturday every day we were there it would have been a GREAT trip! But..Duhn.duhn.duhn...I got strep throat. Yep. Sunday morning I woke up feeling pretty pathetic, but I was out of town, at my in-laws, and I thought "just push through it Lele, you had a couple late nights, you're probably just exhausted, drink some coffee and get over it." So I pushed through, and kept pushing it (whilst feeling terrible). Finally Tuesday morning I told Eric it might be good if we saw a doctor, especially since I was running a steady 101 degree fever. We went to the minute clinic at CVS, and I told her I thought I had an ear infection, she checked out my ear, and said "I think I'm gonna give you a strep test." It came back positive. Y'all it was the WORST.CASE.OF.STREP.EVER! I never thought I was going to get better. I felt HORRIBLE until Friday, and even Friday I still felt pretty weak. Ugh. That was not fun and my second bout with strep in 5 months! What's up with that!??!









I think Eric had fun, and I KNOW Laney had a blast, so that's what really matters here. I'm glad she was able to see her cousins and her aunts and grandparents and great-grandparents. She was read to a lot, played with, and fed well.







Here's a little recap of Saturday, since it's the only day I actually felt good. Columbus has this really cool part of town called "the short north." Every time we visit c'bus Eric and I always end up here. We just like it, cool shops, a fun market, lots to look at and we always have fun.

(sorry most of these pics are from my phone)












Eric and I went out on a double date with his best friend Jacob and his wife Emily. They are really fun. We went to Eric's favorite Italian restaurant, Marcella's. And after dinner we hit up Jeni's, which apparently has spread all over the place! It started out in Columbus several years ago, and they just opened up new locations in Nashville and ATL (and several other big cities, but those are the two that I'll actually visit). Our night finished with a trip the the piano bar.













Ok, so, Jacob has this habit of buying Eric funny t-shirts at thrift stores, and he brought his latest find to Eric Saturday night. Of course he HAD to wear it! :)



And sadly, that's about all I can remember from our trip. The rest of the time I spent curled up in bed. Whaaaa-whaaa.

Y'all are gonna think I'm crazy, but Laney and I are actually going BACK to Ohio on Thursday with my mom, only this time we're going to Cincinnati to visit Walk and Em!!! We're driving, not flying (thank goodness). Oh! the plane ride! OH THE PLANE RIDE!!!!!! AHHH!!!! So our flight there kept getting delayed and we flew out of Montgomery around 8:30pm, then we were delayed in ATL and didn't leave there until midnight!! Do you think Laney just laid her sweet little head on my shoulder and fell asleep, like a little lamb??? OR do you think she SCREAMED THE WHOLE FLIGHT FROM ATL TO COLUMBUS!?!? That little lamb did no sleeping of any sort! She was a crazy baby, which was to be expected, we had kept her out WAY past her bedtime and she was just too tired to do anything but be sad. I can't blame her, I felt about the same as she did at that point. The return flight was MUCH better, having lots of snacks helped (thanks, Claire), so did the videos I uploaded to my iphone. I think next time we fly, I'll make sure and pick a flight that leaves WAY earlier in the day--noted.



Alright, friends, I'm off to get ready for my hot date tonight! Eric and I are headed to dinner and a movie and I can't wait! OH! One more thing, I can't finish this post without giving a MAJOR shout out to my super smart and hard working hubs. He passed his boards this week! Which is a HUGE weight off of him, I've never seen him so anxious and nervous. But he did it! and I'm so proud and thankful!

Later, gators.

Playing catch up...AGAIN!

Tomorrow we leave for Ohio. We're flying--MOMS--if you have any good flying tips PLEASE SHARE!! This will be Laney's first flight and I just want to be prepared. Thanks! I'm serious...this is me crying out for help.."HELP!" :)

So, before we go to OH, I need to catch up the ole blog because if I don't blog now I'll have SO SO much to catch up on once we get back. Blah. What's my problem? Why have I had such a hard time blogging this summer??? I've noticed a lot of my favorites have had trouble too, so it's good to know I'm not alone. But still, it's hard to play catch up all the time.



Ok, onto what we've been up to. Eric had a few days off for the 4th of July weekend, so we decided to head north up 65 and see all our Nashville friends. Thanks to Brian and Christine for putting us up Friday night, and to Ellen for letting us stay the rest of the weekend.






We had so much fun, and it was just so good for us to see our friends. Sunday night we hung out at the Hester's and Eli showed us his mad skills. I think he's going to follow in Jordan's footsteps. He was quite entertaining. Now, every time I hear the Billy Currington song "ba-ba-da-ba-ba-da" I will think of Eli. :) Laney is totally cool with being a groupie one day. So, Eli, start your band! You already have plenty of fans!













After we got back from Nashvegas Laney and I headed back up 65N with my Mom to see Lizzie and her girls. We stayed at the Marriot resort in Muscle Shoals. If you're looking for an easy get away with your kids, this place is AWESOME! The pool was GREAT! The babies had a blast and the adults had fun too. The restaurant downstairs was yummy, so we never even had to leave the hotel if we didn't want to!









But we did want to because Lizzie wanted to show us her new house! Campbell was especially excited to show us around. Chatty Cathy told me all about her new room, and addy's new room, and the kitchen, den, etc. I'm really excited for them.







We had so much fun with the girls we decided to bring one of them home with us! Addy-paddy has spent the week here at my mom's. Her and Laney have had so much fun hanging out. Addy goes home tomorrow and I know Laney will be really sad, she likes having a little playmate around.







Also, Scait came and stayed with us one night on their way to New Orleans for their 2nd honeymoon 7 day cruise! JEALOUS!!! We almost felt like we were back in Nash-nash again after getting to see them two weekends in a row.







We headed downtown to the Alley and ate at a new mexican restaurant there. I can't remember the name of it, but it was good. I had the shrimp quesadilla. So if you're in fungomery go try it.

Phew! Ok, enough for now. Please pray for us tomorrow night and Tuesday night as we fly with Laney. And I'm serious, if you have any good flying with kids tips...PLEASE SHARE!!!

A puppy, dairy, words and shoes.

Jack, my baby brother, is home for a couple of days. I haven't seen him in MONTHS! And in the months that I haven't seen him, he added a new addition to his little family. Meet Brim.





Brim is a golden-doodle (half golden retriever, half poodle). He is one of the most chill puppies. Eric calls him a Muppet-dog, and I think he's right on. Doesn't he just look like a character from the Muppet show?!!? Anyway, when you compare Brim to our little yappie, trauma survivor he seems WAY calmer and quieter. He's really friendly, sometimes too friendly to Laney and she gives him the Heisman to get out of her face. Have I mentioned "dog" is one of the only words Laney says consistently? She says it ALL. THE. TIME. Maybe it's because she's surrounded by dogs a lot (there are 3 dogs at the house right now).



Ok, moving on...What do the items in this picture have in common???



Two things: 1- the are all dairy products. 2- My body has developed a severe intolerance to them. Honestly, I've always been slightly intolerant of dairy. Like the mac-n-cheese at j. alexander's (which is SOOO delish) usually makes me sick, but over all I've never been as sick as I have been over the last month. It's been bad. So, I've decided as much as I love things like ice cream and cheese, my life is a much better one with out them. Do any of you readers have lactose intolerance? Any good recipes you could throw my way? Or am I pretty much stuck with eating strictly meats, fruits and vegetables? Any help is welcomed.



Also, I've started a C25K. Lesley recommended this app and I'm LOVING it!! Tonight started day one of week 4 and it about KILLED me! But I did it! WOO HOO!!



Now, onto a more serious issue that's been plaguing me lately. This one is more on the emotional level. Lately, I've walked around with an attitude of "no body likes me, every body hates me, I guess I'll go eat worms." I'm not telling you this so you'll feel sorry for me, but I'm saying this because it's really bothered me that I've felt this way. I've tried tracking down exactly where this stems from and I finally figured it out a couple of nights ago.





You see, probably 5 or 6 years ago, I had this lady tell me something really mean. So mean, that it has stuck with me for this long and has caused me to be incredibly self-conscious. She probably has no idea that her words affected me so much, and to be honest, until lately I hadn't realized how much they had affected me either. Last night I was laying in bed praying that the Lord would help me take captive those words and speak truth into me so that I would stop walking around with such a dim outlook on myself. I don't feel like I can be an effective friend, wife, mother or even believer if I keep on this way. It's also caused me to realize how MY words (and tone-says my sweet husband :)) effect people. I know this is getting way lengthy so I'll close this out, but I just hope my words (and tone) will breathe life into people. (And I also hope I can believe the truth of what God says about me, instead of the words of others).



Now, to end on a more upbeat note. I bought some new shoes and I love them, so of course, I had to share. They're from shoe station and they come in LOTS of colors. They are so comfy! I like that they have a little heal to them, just enough to make my legs look longer when I'm wearing dresses & skirts. Eric put them on the other night because he had to run out to the car to grab something and they were sitting by the door (seriously, he doesn't normally wear women's shoes, I promise!!) He said...those things really are comfy! :)





And...on that note I'm out. Have a good Thursday, peeps! :)